#nymeria's wolfpack

[visenyaism]

do u think eventually arya will get dark sister? or more generally what do u think her role will be in war for the dawn

i think she’s going to be at maximum twelve years old during the war for the dawn so i hope she’s not front line infantry

[fromtheseventhhell]

Do you think Arya will be present in the Stark vs Bolton’s conflict since George told us he intends to use Nymeria’s pack against the Bolton’s Hounds? It would make sense that Arya is present with the foreshadowing of her leading a pack which could be a combination of both the Northmen who support her and Nymeria’s pack

I think the Bolton/Stark conflict will be concluded, or on its way, by the time Arya actually makes it back to Westeros. I go back and forth on the idea of Arya returning North before the end of the story, but regarding her wolfpack going up against Ramsay's dogs...I doubt it? I don't think his Hounds are anywhere close to presenting a true challenge to Nymeria's pack, so there'd really be no stakes. While the numbers are likely exaggerated, I still think it's grown to a formidable size. I also don't see a pack of that size traveling so far, especially when the winter is coming and game is becoming scarce. If they do travel it's more likely that they'll move up the Neck (or thereabouts) given their previous movement pattern. I'm a firm believer that the Long Night won't be fought exclusively in the North, so I can see them serving as a line of defense for fleeing Northerns + against the Others. Either way, If they do end up making it North it's going to be for more than just fighting Ramsay's hounds.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

#sansa tells the truth? lady still dies because cersei was obviously not concerned with the truth #robert steps in and decides the wolf shouldn't be killed? ok. lady dies later after bob and ned are off the picture #what if we go back in time and avoid the quarrel between joffrey and arya? lady still dies in the future because cers wasn't about to have #her hostage walking around the red keep in the company of a great northern beast #rip baby girl :( #literally a baby girl like she was just a puppy :(

no asoiaf character has ever been more doomed than Lady the direwolf. with most characters you can always rationalize their fate with "oh if they had done this instead of that then things might have been different they would still be alive the war wouldn't have happened etc etc". but with Lady there is just no plausible scenario in which she doesn't end up dead by the end of agot :(

[atopvisenyashill]

please please PLEASE elaborate on greywind as robb's husband. i feel like this take unlocked the option to 3d rotate robb within my mind...

Robb the Warg

Something I think is overlooked, largely because we don't get to look into his head (and he never confides in Bran or Catelyn about it) is that robb, like his siblings, starts the series by being given this supposedly divine animal companion that he shares a soul with. during the events of the first few books, all of the other starklings are accidentally warging and we see it affect them - they’re afraid, curious, getting used to eating raw meat in wolf form, and throw themselves into Identifying As An Animal. some quotes here, although none of this is stuff we all don't know-

Gendry nodded. Hot Pie said, "Hoot like an owl when you want us to come." "I'm not an owl," Arya said. "I'm a wolf. I’ll howl."

And later, when she's ready, Arya isn't the one to howl but another wolf-

When he stopped moving, she picked up the coin. Outside the walls of Harrenhal, a wolf howled long and loud. She lifted the bar, set it aside, and pulled open the heavy oak door.

Which leads us to think that perhaps it's Nymeria, that Arya made Nymeria howl, and perhaps Arya can still warg - something that is confirmed in the next book when Arya has dreams of leading a wolfpack and finds her mother's body, with Nymeria guarding it from being eaten by other wolves. Later on, Arya skinchanges into a cat in braavos while she's blind-

The priest winced and snatched his hand back. "And how could a blind girl know that?" I saw you. "I gave you three. I don't need to give you four." Maybe on the morrow she would tell him about the cat that had followed her home last night from Pynto's, the cat that was hiding in the rafters, looking down on them. Or maybe not. If he could have secrets, so could she.

We have several scenes where both Arya and Bran identify as wolves, and even howl alongside wolves. Rickon too howls along with the wolves, and his behavior becomes noticeably more animal like.

And of course we have jon snow, who even despite having visions of opening his third eye, meeting other skinchangers, and being involved in magical plots, is actively ignoring his own abilities. It's basically common knowledge at the Wall at this point, even Stannis comments on it-

“Aye. All that, and more. You are a warg too, they say, a skinchanger who walks at night as a wolf.” King Stannis had a hard smile. “How much of it is true?”

SO ALL OF THAT TO SAY....if Jon, Arya, Bran, and Rickon, all of whom have living wolves, are skinchanging regularly, if all these kids are practically steaming with magic...why isn't Robb? Well....he is! And the thing is, he hints at it to Bran-

"Did you hear Summer howling last night?" "Grey Wind was restless too," Robb said. His auburn hair had grown shaggy and unkempt, and a reddish stubble covered his jaw, making him look older than his fifteen years. "Sometimes I think they know things … sense things …" Robb sighed. "I never know how much to tell you, Bran. I wish you were older."

Like Arya's initial re-settling of her bond with Nymeria in the Riverlands, like Jon's continued refusal to admit how much power he has, Robb doesn't understand what he's doing, can sense something off about the wolves, but can't quite put it into words. Later on, some of the men remark on how Robb was able to find the goat trick around the Golden Tooth-

"How did the king ever take the Tooth?" Ser Perwyn Frey asked his bastard brother. "That's a hard strong keep, and it commands the hill road." "He never took it. He slipped around it in the night. It's said the direwolf showed him the way, that Grey Wind of his. The beast sniffed out a goat track that wound down a defile and up along beneath a ridge, a crooked and stony way, yet wide enough for men riding single file. The Lannisters in their watchtowers got not so much a glimpse of them." 

It's from a Frey, and just a rumor, right? Except later on, Jeyne makes this comment to Catelyn-

"Robb has not eaten all day. I had Rollam bring him a nice supper, boar's ribs and stewed onions and ale, but he never touched a bite of it. He spent all morning writing a letter and told me not to disturb him, but when the letter was done he burned it. Now he is sitting and looking at maps. I asked him what he was looking for, but he never answered. I don't think he ever heard me. He wouldn't even change out of his clothes."

Does that behavior sound familiar? It should because Bran also does this when he's warging - not only does he go still for hours, but he usually forgets to eat because he eats through Summer, something Jojen and Bran even talk about.

But that's the problem - Robb has no Jojen, no wildlings, no Jaqen, no Osha to tell him what the hell he's doing and that magic still exists. He's completely lost in the political story and cut off from any magical ties despite actively doing magic. And I think this weights heavy on him because while Arya and Bran, for example, start to identify more as animals, as wolves, as their warging powers go stronger, Robb shies away from this-

"A hall is no place for a wolf. He gets restless, you've seen. Growling and snapping. I should never have taken him into battle with me. He's killed too many men to fear them now. Jeyne's anxious around him, and he terrifies her mother." And there's the heart of it, Catelyn thought. "He is part of you, Robb. To fear him is to fear you." "I am not a��wolf, no matter what they call me." Robb sounded cross. "Grey Wind killed a man at the Crag, another at Ashemark, and six or seven at Oxcross. If you had seen—" "I saw Bran's wolf tear out a man's throat at Winterfell," she said sharply, "and loved him for it."

Why is he so cross? Perhaps because he's losing the ability to differentiate between himself and the wolf he regularly shares a mind with, controls? Perhaps because he's killed inside that wolf's head? Perhaps because he thinks he's going crazy?

And of course, his final moment that echoes Jon's - Robb whispers Grey Wind's name, Jon whispers Ghost. And just like it's guessed that perhaps Jon whispered Ghost's name because he's about to actively slip into Ghost's skin for the first time so his body can heal without his soul inside it, Robb is slipping into Grey Wind in his final moments. As Varamyr points out, this is common with skinchangers - a second, much more simple life when your first is ended.

So all this to say - Robb is actively warging Grey Wind throughout the series and starts losing his own sense of self in Grey Wind.

Grey Wind as Robb's Wife

Okay but what does this have to do with their bond? Well the thing is...Grey Wind does not exist outside of Robb. Nymeria, Summer, and Ghost both go off on their own; Nymeria practically has her own plotline outside of Arya, and Ghost goes on a number of little adventures all by himself. But Grey Wind begins and ends with Robb. Much like how Catelyn refers to Ned as the rock her life was built on, how she died with Ned at the ending of agot, Robb is the rock Grey Wind's life is built on, and Grey Wind follows Robb into the grave just moments later.

Not only this, but Robb the Brother and Robb the Warg as identities start to get subsumed into what Bran calls "Robb the Lord" and eventually Robb the King. Because Robb sees this war as his identity, his reason for being, I think he sees himself as almost a liberator - he owes his existence to the brutal murder of the man who was supposed to be his father and his grandfather, as well as the kidnapping & murder of his aunt that anyone with eyes can see completely upended his father’s ability to Feel Happiness Normally. For robb, this war is about not saving his family, but righting all the wrongs and indignities that have ever been done to the north - and when you factor in how quickly the Riverlands flock to him, I think this adds to his resolve because the riverlands is soooo vulnerable and no one’s ever been able to get a handle on them, to properly protect them, not the Targaryen kings, not the petty kings but maybe HE can. It's as Catelyn says-

There would be no peace, no chance to heal, no safety. She looked at her son, watched him as he listened to the lords debate, frowning, troubled, yet wedded to his war. He had pledged himself to marry a daughter of Walder Frey, but she saw his true bride plain before her now: the sword he had laid on the table.

So he’s struggling with magic and identity just like everyone else, and at the same time being subsumed into this other identity of Robb the Lord, Robb the King. I think for a long stretch of time this means he’s combining these identities of Robb the Warg and Robb the King and viewing Grey Wind as his partner, his soul mate, his other half. AKA….his spouse. His husband. His true bride. All of this while he’s using Grey Wind not as a pet or even a defender (contrast to Jon who sends Ghost away when there’s battle or danger!) but as a weapon! But this isn’t because he sees Grey Wind as non sentient, not important, just an animal, it’s because Robb the King, Robb the Warg, it’s all tied up in his head in confusing & horrifying ways.

And that's the exact dynamic most noble marriages have! Men in most of Terros and especially in Westeros see their wives not as independent people but often as extensions of themselves. It’s why Viserys, Robert, Jon Arryn don’t see the “betrayals” at their wives hands coming, it’s why Catelyn phrases criticism in her head as “Ned would have done this", it's why the Khaleesis are required to go to Vaes Dothrak when their husbands die. And so the more Robb sees Grey Wind as his Partner In War, and the more he’s having these impossible true dreams where he is one with Grey Wind, the more Grey Wind is essentially playing the role of a Westerosi Wife for Robb. Summer, Ghost, and even Nymeria have like, lives of their own but Grey Wind is always in the same place as Robb, feeling the exact same things as Robb. Even moreso than Summer, Ghost, Nymeria, Shaggy, and Lady, Grey Wind seems to pick up on Robb's every emotion. He attacks Tyrion because Robb is angry, he bares his teeth at Catelyn when Robb gets cross with her more than once, and very often there's lines like ~Robb stalked from the room and Grey Wind padded along beside him~ or something to that effect.

What's really interesting is that when Catelyn gets back in ASOS, Robb has sent Grey Wind to the kennels because Grey Wind scares Jeyne - the moment Robb marries, he sends his wolf away. He's lost faith in Grey Wind's magical abilities after the "murders" of Bran and Rickon, the murders which sent him to Jeyne's bed in the first place and he says as much-

"I found them, remember? I know how many there were and where they came from. I used to think the same as you, that the wolves were our guardians, our protectors, until . . ."

And the moment Robb is separated from Jeyne, Grey Wind is back at his side, and Robb seems to not only prefer Grey Wind to his anxious little wife, but Grey Wind seems almost annoyed at the imposition of Jeyne-

The day was damp and grey, a drizzle had begun to fall, and the last thing he wanted was to call a halt to his march so he could stand in the wet and console a tearful young wife in front of half his army. He speaks her gently, she thought as she watched them together, but there is anger underneath. All the time the king and queen were talking, Grey Wind prowled around them, stopping only to shake the water from his coat and bare his teeth at the rain. When at last Robb gave Jeyne one final kiss, dispatched a dozen men to take her back to Riverrun, and mounted his horse once more, the direwolf raced off ahead as swift as an arrow loosed from a longbow.

Catelyn remarks that Grey Wind is at his side ones more - "where he belongs" - and from that point until they get to the Twins, Grey Wind remains at Robb's side. Every single scene afterwards mentions Grey Wind with Robb, whether Grey Wind is growling at someone, scouting ahead, or just receiving some scratches from Robb.

And they remain together until the day they both die.

[imaginarianisms]

okay so i& guess imma& start w/ the direwolves. i& did basic math & calculated 298AC (which is the beginning of agot in the present day) & theon greyjoy tells the starks that direwolves haven't been seen south of the wall in 200 years, so 298-200=98AC. what was going on around this time we know for sure was that a great tourney was held in king's landing for king jaehaerys the conciliator to celebrate his 50th year on the throne of his very long reign. a year before this, princess rhaenyra targaryen was born in 97 AC to viserys & aemma arryn (marilda of hull was also born at this time & daemon ends up marrying rhea royce in that very same year) & 3 years before that in 94 AC balerion the black dread died & 2 years before 97 AC, princess/septa maegelle targaryen died due to grayscale. princess gael targaryen, alysanne's youngest daughter died a year later after 98 AC in 99 AC by supposedly committing suicide after getting pregnant by a traveling singer & giving birth to a stillborn son & septon barth died that same year & queen alysanne (canonically) dies in 100 AC a year after at dragonstone where she retired & baelon targaryen, viserys i & daemon's father, was made hand of the king. so the last direwolf was seen south of the wall even before the dance of the dragons even began, that's a VERY long time. so the starklings are a very special bunch, direwolves aren't something you see often.

grey wind: bonded with robb stark; fast, loyal, protective, lethal & fearsome; smoke grey fur & golden eyes; an infamous beast of war before he's slain at the red wedding.

lady: bonded with sansa stark; pretty, gentle, sweet, obedient & trusting; silver grey fur & golden yellow eyes; separated from her master before returning to the north.

nymeria: bonded with arya stark; wild, willful, adaptive, resourceful & dangerous; ash grey fur & dark golden eyes; separated from her master & starts her own wolfpack.

summer: bonded with bran stark; strong, swift, fierce, smart & protective; silver & smoke grey fur & golden eyes; vanished beyond the wall before he's slain by wights.

shaggydog: bonded with rickon stark; feral, different, aggressive & unpredictable; melanistic, black fur & bright green eyes; residing on skagos before returning north.

ghost: bonded with jon snow; silent, enigmatic, lethal, intelligent, & mystical; albino, white fur & red eyes; merged with his master's soul before resurrecting at the wall.

[vivacissimx]

Hello! How do you think Jon would react when he is told the truth about his parentage? Who do you think will tell him? And how do you think his feelings regarding Ned would change? Have a lovely day!

I think it's a foregone conclusion at this point that Jon is going to learn about his parentage at some point, there are a lot of theories regarding the specifics but personally I'd be very surprised if he learned it from anyone other than Howland Reed.

Couple reasons however I think it's fair & important to note that Jon always had a father. Ned Stark raised him & while Jon's evolving feelings on him/Northern politics in general diverge from the complete admiration he once had for Ned, it's not a rejection of Eddard Stark the Father. Jon's growing empathy for other peoples (whether across class or regional lines within the Night's Watch itself to the wildlings to women) includes an empathy for Ned--this allows him to take the best of what Ned taught him and yet make decisions that Ned would not have made. He's understanding of the difficult positions his dad has been in and perhaps even the sacrifices made. When he doesn't go South to join Robb, when he rejects Stannis' offer, it's a symbolic break from Starkhood although the love for his family remains.

No, Jon's never lacked a father. He's always wanted a mother.

This is where Howland Reed ties in, he's just so connected to Jon's origin story--not only present but involved in Lyanna's moment as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, present at the Tower of Joy when Lyanna makes Ned promise to care for Jon (presumably). Howland told stories of Lyanna & Harrenhal to his children who tell them to Bran. Howland, interestingly, spent a whole season with the green men on the Isle of Faces in the God's Eye by Harrenhal, which is a winky nudgey type of thing because the mythos of that region is rich in Old Gods/Stark/Targaryen connections. Ex. Rhaegar & Lyanna ofc, Daemon Targaryen's 13 slashes in the Harrenhal weirwood that bleed in spring, Addam Velaryon's supposed audience with the green men before sacrificing himself for Rhaenyra's cause, Rhaena Targaryen the ghost of Harrenhal➡Arya Stark the ghost of Harrenhal, Nymeria's wolfpack in the area, proximity to the Trident & the Inn of the Kneeling Man where Torrhen supposedly bent the knee to Aegon the Conqueror, Dark Sister the sword being lost beneath the water for a generation (Dark Sister in the current timeline likely being lost beyond the Wall).

Howland is also the one of the guys Robb sent a letter to legitimizing Jon & naming him the heir. Yes I know Jon rejected being named a Stark at Stannis' hands but Robb is very different to Stannis. Howland's children are lost beyond the Wall. GRRM has said we're getting Howland at some point. I believe it's for the purpose of telling Jon about R+L=J.

I'd predict that knowing about Lyanna is what will really affect Jon, given that a) he's been shown to admire women who remind him of Arya & Arya/Lyanna parallels are weaved throughout the books, b) that she did genuinely love him, she didn't abandon him, and c) Ned Stark loved him as a son by choice rather than simply being a stain on his honor.

Jon reacts to many a thing with frustration, by internalizing his feelings and being stubborn but he feels & loves deeply. Empathy and affection motivate him. Hearing some variation of this:

"I was with her when she died," Ned reminded the king. "She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father." He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes. Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it.

[AGOT, Eddard I]

How can this not hurt!! It has to. It would rip me apart! It also heals though. Jon isn't the petulant teenager he started the series as, he's harder and he's made sacrifices too. ADWD Jon willing to throw any honor he might have had to the wind, to remain a bastard, to break his vows, for the sake of what he loves & considers bigger than himself. How do you think Jon will feel to learn that the people who made him who he is were faced with similar impossible circumstances, that they paid the highest prices & the only way to mourn/celebrate their lives is to rejoice in the fact that he, himself, is still alive??? It's torture but it's also so beautiful because it's something he's always wanted. Never thought he would get.

It's a personal revelation, is what I'm getting at, a bittersweetness. I believe there's a relief in knowing. Freedom in understanding. I do see moments of resentment creeping in (Jon is a human being bro) but ultimately he will make peace with this & that it will help him to accept love more easily from others (something he has difficulty doing).

About Ned... this is kind of another question, there is a grappling to be had if he links up with Daenerys about the Rhaegar/Ned picture. They're coming from opposite ends of the bridge on this one. Here is where I think the classic coming of age trope of 'realizing your parents/idols are people too' will happen. Ultimately this duo has to succeed where their predecessors failed, right? Doing that means leaving behind a lot of baggage, no matter how justified your personal attachment to them is

I want Jon to be able to say "I made the best decisions I could. Nobody else did it for me. Thank you to everyone who influenced me & taught me something, I hold you close to my heart and I've got it from here." That's ideally the place Jon learning about his parents brings him closer to, for me as a Jon Snow Enjoyer.

& if you want more I humbly offer the fic I wrote about this very identity reveal 🥰

[mytly4]

The idea that Brienne would simply be killed by Lady Stoneheart and that would be the end of her story seems to me completely wrong in both narrative and thematic terms.

Narratively speaking, Brienne has her own story arc, which is barely halfway done so far. In order for her to complete her story arc, she has a lot of experiences to undergo, such as completing a quest (which would probably involving finding and protecting one of the Stark girls, most likely Arya); being knighted (most probably by Jaime); and fighting in (and preferably surviving) the War for the Dawn. So narratively speaking, it follows that she will almost certainly get out from LS's clutches some time in TWoW.

Thematically speaking, the idea that Brienne, one of the very few unambiguously "good guys" in this story, would be falsely accused of betrayal and murdered in cold blood would be a major downer and probably against what GRRM is trying to convey through the overarching storyline. This is what happened to Ned in the first book. If the same sort of thing happens to Brienne in the sixth book, then what sort of story is he telling? Is his point in writing this story "Bad things happen to good people and keep happening; there's nothing anyone can do about it, tough luck"? It seems really unlikely (and if it is in fact the point he's trying to make, then I sincerely hope he never finishes the story). So to make thematic sense, it follows that Brienne must somehow survive her encounter with LS, and prefereably survive to the end of the series.

How will she survive? That's a question that remains to be answered. But there are enough wild cards either already a part of Brienne's story or just beyond it (and basically kind of wandering about in the Riverlands, at a narrative loose end) that we can make some guesses.

The first possibility is that some of the BwB themselves help her (and maybe Jaime as well) escape. Thoros has already vocally expressed his disatisfaction with how the BwB has lost its initial purpose and essentially become a gang of thugs under LS. He may finally decide he's had enough and intervene to help Brienne escape, maybe even sacrificing his own life to do so. (Thoros is a tertiary character - he exists only to serve other characters' stories. Brienne is not.)

Another possibility is Gendry, who definitely has reason to be grateful to be Brienne after her bravery at the Inn at the Crossroads, speaking up on her behalf or helping her escape (though I do hope he doesn't sacrifice himself for her).

Some of the wildcards wandering around the Riverlands are the Blackfish, Edmure Tully, and Nymeria and her wolfpack. The Blackfish (and some of his men) escaped from Riverrun in AFFC, and are probably somewhere in the Riverlands, trying to figure out how to recapture their castle, and may run into the BwB while trying to do so (since one of their men is a spy inside). Edmure is not exactly wandering around the Riverlands, considering that he is currently (at the end of the FeastDance) a prisoner of the Lannisters and being escorted to Casterly Rock; but it's very likely he won't remain a prisoner for long, as there is a strong possibility that the BwB will attack the Lannister soldiers escorting him and free him early on in TWoW. Neither the Blackfish nor Edmure have any particular reason to help Brienne, of course, but it's quite likely that they will be horrified upon meeting their beloved Catelyn who is now an undead zombie. Whatever they do in response may cause enough of a disturbance among the BwB for Brienne to be able to free herself (and maybe Jaime).

I admit I don't see how/why Nymeria would get involved in Brienne's predicament at all, but she is connected to LS (both via Arya and directly, as she is the one who dragged Catelyn's body out of the river) and as GRRM as himself stated, Nymeria and her wolfpack are massive Chekhov's guns, so it's possible that they may get involved in the BwB's story, and therefore indirectly Brienne's.

is brienne dying by lady stone heart?

She might. She might not. I hope not.

What I think is that Brienne's going to wind up protecting someone successfully. If that's Jaime, then yes, she stands a real chance of dying at Lady Stoneheart's hands. Though again, I would not consider that a sure thing - I tend to think that the Jaime/Brienne relationship needs some resolution, which requires some time not fighting for their lives, and which I suspect is most logically placed after the conflict with Lady Stoneheart.

If Brienne ends up protecting someone else, that's most likely to be one of Catelyn's children, and the sheer logistics involved mean that Brienne's likely to survive a fairly imminent conflict with zombie Catelyn.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

GRRM’s Chekhov’s guns - how can we tell what they are?

yeyaboya asked:

I love the way you analyze ASOIAF and its mysteries and how you made me enjoy them even more by revealing the “Chekhov’s guns”. The last list you made is amazing! I hope this question doesn’t bother you but how can we be sure that some minor mysteries are Chekhov’s guns and not just worldbuilding? Is there something as a literary rule to distinguish them? After all, not every story needs to be told in the books and some things may work better if left open…

Thanks so much! Regarding GRRM’s Chekhov’s guns, the most important thing to remember is where the term came from:

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there. –Anton Chekhov

That principle can be understood in several ways: 1) if you intend to have something happen later in the story, you should set it up earlier in the story; and 2) if you mention a significant object or other element, it must be important to the plot, otherwise you shouldn’t mention it.

Therefore, deciding whether something is a Chekhov’s gun (for a plot point that hasn’t happened yet) is very similar to deciding whether something is foreshadowing (for a plot point that hasn’t happened yet). If you want to do literary analysis properly, you can’t look at an unfinished work and say definitely that things are foreshadowing or Chekhov’s guns – you need to wait until the work is complete, otherwise you’re only guessing. Sometimes you can guess in a way that turns out to have been pretty accurate, but sometimes the author was not going where you thought he was, sometimes the object was not significant at all, and you end up being just plain wrong.*

*(To step away from ASOIAF, consider the Harry Potter series: some thought that Neville’s parents giving him bubble gum wrappers was a Chekhov’s gun, and built theories about what the letters on the wrappers signified. Others thought that Lily Potter having been skilled at potions and charms was significant foreshadowing for Harry discovering that a potion or charm was needed to defeat Voldemort. Still others believed Harry and Hermione’s flight on the hippogriff was foreshadowing for their future romance, based on alchemical symbolism. While there were many arguments about the validity of these speculative Chekhov’s guns and foreshadowing during the time the story was unfinished, by the end they all turned out to be extremely wrong.)

However, even in an incomplete work, you can analyze pieces of foreshadowing where the thing they foreshadowed happened already, because there you can be definite. For example, the stag killing the mother direwolf, which foreshadowed conflict between the Starks and Baratheons, or all the visions and such foreshadowing the Red Wedding. (Sandor’s “maybe we’ll even be in time for your uncle’s bloody wedding” also counts as foreshadowing, though GRRM was extremely unsubtle by that point. Not that the visions were especially subtle, not at all.) To shift that to Chekhov’s guns (which are often but not always physical objects): for example, at the end of ACOK when Dontos gave Sansa the black amethyst hairnet, that was GRRM hanging the gun upon the wall (and we knew it was a gun because we had been told that strangler crystals looked like dark amethysts at the start of ACOK) – and then the gun was fired in ASOS at Joffrey’s wedding, with one of the “amethysts” in the hairnet used to poison his wine.

Another baseline to check the significance of potential Chekhov’s guns is GRRM’s own words regarding the direwolf Nymeria and her pack of wolves, where he stated that “you don’t hang a giant wolf pack on the wall unless you intend to use it.” He explicitly referred to them as a Chekhov’s gun – and we can see by the many times that Nymeria and the wolfpack have been mentioned in the story, ranging from frightening lords and peasants in the Riverlands, to killing the Brave Companions chasing Arya and her friends, to dragging Catelyn’s body from the river, to being a focus of Arya’s wolf dreams allowing her to keep her identity despite the Faceless Men’s attempts to make her “no one” (again even in TWOW), that GRRM considers them a very important and significant gun that will go off hard. What exact role they’ll play in endgame, we don’t know yet, but it is definite that they will have one.

Therefore we can consider things that have been referred to often, whose ultimate purpose is mysterious or as yet unknown, to be very probable Chekhov’s guns. Valyrian steel, for example, has been hinted to be one of the few things that can destroy the Others – therefore Valyrian steel swords are definite “guns” (Chekhov’s swords?), even specific swords that have not been mentioned much. (Widow’s Wail, not mentioned since Joffrey’s death, but in the Red Keep waiting for Tommen to grow up; the Targaryen swords Blackfyre and Dark Sister, as yet unnamed within the main books but significant within D&E/TWOIAF/F&B; and so on.) The powers of the Wall to repel the Others and focus or block magic have also been referred to often, therefore it seems very likely that the “gun” in this case is the fall of the Wall via the Horn of Joramun, allowing the Others into Westeros to raise the dead and begin the new Long Night. Jaime described how Aerys and his pyromancers planted thousands of jars of wildfire within King’s Landing, even in the cellars of the Red Keep – and while Tyrion and his pyromancers found many of those jars while preparing for the Battle of the Blackwater, significantly they did not discover the ones within the castle – so it seems probable that Aerys’s “fruits” are a huge Chekhov’s gun that’s not just going to be fired, it’s going to explode. It’s technically possible that this might not be a gun; it could be that the Blackwater was all the plot that the wildfire jars were needed for… but at this moment (especially with wildfire playing a major role in a KL explosion in the show), I’d take any bet.

And as for certain major or minor mysteries (Jon’s parentage, Ashara’s suicide, Tyrek’s disappearance, Benjen’s disappearance, Jaqen’s actions, Patchface, the many prophecies, etc, etc), whether they can be defined as a “Chekhov’s gun” or not… it’s kind of a matter of semantics. However, GRRM is definitely following Chekhov’s principle here, in that he is establishing these plot elements within the story, “hanging them on the wall”, so that when they are resolved or become relevant later, it won’t come out of nowhere. (Note GRRM has said he avoids looking at fan theories in case they’re right, because then he might be tempted to change things up to surprise people – but if it were a surprise, then it wouldn’t be based on the work he’s done that led people to figure things out in advance, which would be bad writing.) Also, we know that these plot elements are significant, otherwise he wouldn’t be mentioning them.

That leads to your question about worldbuilding, and whether elements of ASOIAF worldbuilding can be considered a Chekhov’s gun or if they’re just “flavor text” to give depth to the world of ASOIAF. And the answer is… it depends. Worldbuilding like the cannibals of Skagos seems like it will become very relevant to future events, as Rickon is on Skagos and Davos is heading there in order to bring him home. The mystery of Hardhome is another element of worldbuilding that may become relevant, if Jon needs to rescue the Night’s Watchmen and wildlings there. The mysteries of Asshai… alas, GRRM has said nobody’s going to Asshai, but it will still be significant through the people who have been there. The Deep Ones, the black stone, all that weirdness from TWOIAF – as they appear to be relevant to the ironborn and to the Hightower at Oldtown, as there will soon be a huge confluence of ironborn at Oldtown with whatever weird magical ritual Euron’s planning – well, that seems like a pretty big potential Chekhov’s gun to me. The demon roads of Valyria and the monsters of Mantarys might just be worldbuilding… or they might be relevant when Dany (probably) travels to Volantis.

But the mystery of whether the dragon Vermax laid a clutch of eggs by the hot springs of Winterfell? While that’s briefly hinted to in TWOIAF, that rumor is noted as being extremely dubious within the text, and nothing within ASOIAF itself has referred to the story. Not even any tales by Old Nan, who you’d think would mention it if anyone would. Though it’s possible that it will be related as one of her tales in TWOW (and the TWOIAF-only thing is just ‘cos GRRM’s so late with that book), and the crypts of Winterfell are surely significant for many reasons (Jon’s parentage, secret passages, the mystery of why the statues have swords, what might happen when the Others make the dead rise). So there could be a Chekhov’s gun involved here… or maybe not.

And there’s also the fact that GRRM doesn’t always follow Chekhov’s principle. Besides him being a gardener-writer and not an architect-writer, not everything he writes in detail is significant to the plot of the story. Sometimes he just wants to show the grim-n-grittiness of the world, therefore the constant mentions of pee. Sometimes he’s just showing the pageantry of the medieval era, or the mysteries of “here be dragons” in lands beyond common knowledge. Sometimes he’s making private jokes, including references to writer friends or fan friends or comic books or Harry Potter or the Three Stooges. Sometimes GRRM just wants to describe amazing food, because he loves food. Though once in a rare while, food actually is relevant to the plot. ;)

So, the question of whether something’s a Chekhov’s gun or not, and how you can distinguish a mystery that’s intended to stay a open mystery, from one that will be resolved and/or significant to the events of the story? Well, for things that haven’t come to a conclusion yet… you can do your best at guessing, but honestly, you can’t know. The proof is in the pudding. When the story’s over, we’ll know. Even if you take lots of English classes, even if you study classics of literature and fantasy, even if you read GRRM’s favorite books, even if you read other GRRM works and try to figure out his patterns, you may have become a better educated guesser, but it’s still no guarantee. I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is. In the end, some fans who tried to make predictions will be right and some will be wrong and many will have never even guessed where GRRM was going; some things we thought were Chekhov’s guns or foreshadowing won’t be; and some things we’ll go back and see that GRRM had been laying the groundwork all along and we never noticed. (Though it’s a big fandom, I’d bet at least someone would have noticed.)

And really, I think the possibilities of being wrong, the possibilities of being not quite right – that’s half the fun of writing about this series. If we figured out everything that was going to happen before it did, what would be the point of reading, after all? Though if it turns out you did figure things out correctly… you can be glad you did. :)

[goodmeowningcols]

A Heart’s Home

A Jon/Arya Post-Canon Reunion Aesthetic

With their cabin beyond the Wall

[fromtheseventhhell]

GRRM has taken great care to show the bond between the Stark’s children and their direwolves. The significance of their names, having them take on the same personality traits (example: Rickon and Shaggydog both being described as angry and wild), foreshadowing, and generally being surrogates for their Starkling. The fact that Arya’s direwolf is a leader, named after a female ruler (a princess that crossed the Narrow Sea, which Arya has already done), and the subject of legends and an infamous figure is foreshadowing for Arya herself.

We've had the direwolves built up as important aspects for the Starks since literally the first chapter of AGOT and yet people still insist there isn't any relevant foreshadowing involved with them. We're just supposed to see it as nothing more than a coincidence. The thing is the foreshadowing doesn't align with fandom ideas, so it has to not mean anything. Arya can't be a leader because she's already been assigned the role of assassin/brawn. Who cares if it doesn't make sense with how she's written? Nymeria's namesake, the fact that they've kept a strong bond despite being separated, Nymeria building up a large wolfpack, and direwolves taking after their owners all mean nothing. If people are feeling spicy they'll use the direwolves as a negative. Jon is gonna come back wrong and not be able to do anything, Rickon is gonna be more animal then man and irrelevant, and Nymeria's namesake means an "Arya the Sailor" endgame. 🙄

It's incredibly frustrating because the buildup for the direwolves hasn't been subtle. Despite what people claim about George, he's pretty on the nose with his foreshadowing. If he truly meant them to mean nothing then he wouldn't have spent so much time building them up. Let's hope TWOW comes out soon and we get the follow-through.

[bisquid]

These are things that keep me up at night, yes

However

Given that a) westerosi ecology is presumably adapted to the absolutely bullshit seasonality, and b) any area that size (possibly as much as THREE! THREE! times the size of motherfucking Scotland) is going to experience heterogeneous population densities, and therefore bits will occasionally have lower grazing pressure, c) there's not 'no new growth' because nothing's growing but because it's all getting eaten and finally d) the Kingswood soil is the kind of incredibly rich you would expect from a temperate rainforest,,,,, it is possible that you could get that many fucking deer-and-associated hanging out in there eating anything and everything that dares grow a leaf below browsing height. Not necessarily likely, I'll grant you, but frankly no less likely than anything else in westeros right now.

The main limits on primary productivity - vegetative growth - are a) light and b) water with c) warmth coming in a somewhat more distant third

The stormlands has all three of those in spades, so it can grow things at approximately the speed of light. I really cannot overstate how much greenery somewhere like that can generate, it's just that normally it'll hit maximum resource use and slow down as things start overshading each other and shit. In an environment where any new growth gets immediately eaten and then shat out as high volumes of - essentially - compost??? Yeah. So much.

While I suspect any ground plants that need to set seed to survive are in shorter supply, there are always seeds and whatnot coming on from outside Outliers Forest, and - as any gardener will tell you, at length and at high volume - there are always pioneer species (weeds) that seem to fuckin SPAWN whenever there's a clear patch of earth left unattended for more than about five seconds. The Kingswood seedbank might be beginning to run low, but ~gestures helplessly~ they can apparently happily reseed after a fuckin MULTI YEAR WINTER so I would not be taking any bets there 🙃

(what this seemingly inexhaustible supply of large herbivores is doing to the *rest* of westeros's ecology is another, differently horrifying thought experiment, although it does explain how Nymeria can collect a wolfpack ostensibly nearing or exceeding 100 without them just obliterating the Riverlands' ecology, since presumably there's basically infinite deer emigrating North from the Kingswood. There must be. So many predators outside the Kingswood. (None of this makes any sense, we're trying to apply logic and science to a world invented by someone who fundamentally Does Not Understand ecology or SCALE! A royal hunting reserve THE SIZE OF A COUNTRY?!?!) I'm amazed the wolves only became a problem once Nymeria got involved! Fuck knows what the VALE is doing, with their ludicrous geographic border defence. Westerosi ecology is just. Such Bullshit)

Deer tend not to debark old trees - it's too tough and dry for their needs/tastes - so any of the young trees they can debark have already been debarked, which is one of the reasons Garrit is going so feral: between the immediate consumption of new seedlings and the death of any existing saplings below a certain age, there's possibly upwards of a fifty year gap in tree age. Which is, as almost any forester will tell you, an absolute fucking disaster, even when you're not part of a society that depends on wood for everything from fuel to building supplies to shoemaking

The Kingswood foresters have been staring down absolute disaster as it barrels at them at full speed, fully aware that they or their descendants are going to be blamed for it when someone in power actually deigns to notice it, because never in history has 'we tried to tell you but you ignored us!' worked as an explanation on nobles like Tywin Fucking Lannister.

Forget the Seven, Garrit and co now worship Those Three What Fucking Believed Us from now until the heat death of the universe

How it started:

How it's going:

@systlin made the mistake of adding a couple of quick lines about overpopulation in the King's Landing Kingswood to A Crossing of Fires and then I compounded the issue by doing maths about it and now the entire rest of the fic has been derailed

[zazikels]

denerim replied to your post “denerim replied to your post “thoughts I had when watching the ep...”

I feel they brought him back just for the upcoming battle :/ He'd better make it, or else ��

god...if they kill ghost next week i’m manifesting physically into d&d’s offices and throwing snakes at them. 

[silverflameataraxia]

I find it interesting how many people think Sansa's going to end up as Queen in the North in ASOIAF.

Unless I'm thinking of this wrong, I just kind of assumed that if anyone ended up as Queen in the North it would be someone who's central to the plot. I don't see someone not central to the plot ending up as Queen. The only two women central to the plot of ASOIAF are Daenerys and Arya.

I think Dany ruling as Dragon Queen of the South and Arya ruling as Wolf Queen of the North would be a pretty awesome ending. Both are strong but gentle. Both stand up to lords and are loved by the people. Both are intelligent. Dany may command more armies at the moment, but Arya does have Nymeria and her wolfpack at the Trident.

Anywho, just my thoughts.

[jackoshadows]

No, but all this "Arya is naturally violent' is doubly hilarious coming from the same folks who think that Sansa is going to speak politely and thank everyone and sing songs and become leader of the North!

The North is a violent and brutal place. We are introduced to it with Ned making his 7 year old son watch a beheading and Jon Snow warning Bran to not look away from a man getting his head cut off...

“And don’t look away. Father will know if you do.”

Bran kept his pony well in hand, and did not look away. - Bran, AGoT

Ned then wants his 3 year old toddler to play with a direwolf because winter is coming...

“Is he afraid?” Ned asked.

“A little,” she admitted. “He is only three.”

Ned frowned. “He must learn to face his fears. He will not be three forever. And winter is coming.”

“Yes,” Catelyn agreed. The words gave her a chill, as they always did. - Catelyn, AGoT

Jon Snow gifted his nine year old, much loved, little sister a sword as a going away present! This is a world where ten year olds have been Lord commander of the wall.

The Mountain clan chiefs pay Jon Snow a visit and are only reassured when he promises to behead his child hostages if the Freefolk step out of line. Ned Stark took Theon Greyjoy as a child hostage. Jorah Mormont fled Westeros in fear of Ned Stark's punishment for being a slaver.

The Mountain clans with Stannis are not bothered that he is making human sacrifices to the Lord of Light - they just think that he is making human sacrifices to the wrong God and that the sacrifices should have been made to the Old Gods instead.

This is Big Bucket Wull:

Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned’s little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that. As for me, I am old. This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue.

“Aye!” shouted Morgan Liddle. “Blood and battle!”

We are seeing the comeback of direwolves, wargs, skinchangers and greenseers. Bran is warging Hodor and probably eating Jojen paste, Jon is going to spend time in a wolf, Arya is going to be leading Nymeria and her wolf pack, wild child Rickon grew up with Osha on cannibal island and shaggydog is eating unicorns. They are all bad-ass wargs and have bad-ass Wolf Dreams. Jon, Arya and Bran are all central, important characters in the series and they have all engaged in morally grey acts.

Ghost, Nymeria, Shaggydog and Summer will come back in a big way and play important roles - as stated by GRRM again and again in interviews. The Stark-Direwolf bond is very important.

"I heard the same thing from my cousin, and she's not the sort to lie," an old woman said. "She says there's this great pack, hundreds of them, mankillers. The one that leads them is a she-wolf, a bitch from the seventh hell." - Arya, ACoK

GRRM mentioning hanging Chekov's wolfpack on the wall to use it in the future.

Plus,

Speaking of which: Martin leaves a little note for the producers when writing about Ramsay’s flesh-eating hounds, whom we see hunting down a girl for sport.

[N.B. A note for future reference. A season or two down the line Ramsay’s pack of wolfhounds are going to be sent against the Stark direwolves, so we should build up the dogs as much as possible in this and subsequent episodes.] - Script notes

And this is what happens if Northern houses refuses to fight for their leige lords:

And when Lord Umber, who was called the Greatjon by his men and stood as tall as Hodor and twice as wide, threatened to take his forces home if he was placed behind the Hornwoods or the Cerwyns in the order of march, Robb told him he was welcome to do so.

“And when we are done with the Lannisters,” he promised, scratching Grey Wind behind the ear, “we will march back north, root you out of your keep, and hang you for an oathbreaker.” - Bran, AGoT

And this is how Robb Stark got the support of the GreatJon

Yet Robb only said a quiet word, and in a snarl and the blink of an eye Lord Umber was on his back, his sword spinning on the floor three feet away and his hand dripping blood where Grey Wind had bitten off two fingers.

“My lord father taught me that it was death to bare steel against your liege lord,” Robb said, “but doubtless you only meant to cut my meat.” Bran’s bowels went to water as the Greatjon struggled to rise, sucking at the red stumps of fingers… but then, astonishingly, the huge man laughed. “Your meat,” he roared, “is bloody tough. “

And somehow after that the Greatjon became Robb’s right hand, his staunchest champion, loudly telling all and sundry that the boy lord was a Stark after all, and they’d damn well better bend their knees if they didn’t fancy having them chewed off. - Bran, AGoT

He got the GreatJon's support because Greywind chewed off his fingers and not by speaking politely, with good manners and saying thank you.

This is how Lyanna Mormont addressed King Stannis:

Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is STARK. - Jon, ADWD

No being polite or charming. Just the brutal truth.

This is Wylla Manderly:

“A thousand years before the Conquest, a promise was made, and oaths were sworn in the Wolf’s Den before the old gods and the new. When we were sore beset and friendless, hounded from our homes and in peril of our lives, the wolves took us in and nourished us and protected us against our enemies. The city is built upon the land they gave us. In return, we swore that we should always be their men. Stark men!” - Davos, ADWD

Alys Karstark, who got on a horse in the harshest winter, made it all the way to the wall to ask that the son of Ned Stark help her. Marrying a Thenn from beyond the wall to save her house. Jon compares her bravery to Arya Stark and calls her 'Winter's Lady'.

Alysanne Mormont attacking the IronBorn, killing people and winning back the North:

Alysane Mormont, whose men name her the She-Bear, hid fighters inside a gaggle of fishing sloops and took the ironmen unawares where they lay off the strand. Greyjoy’s longships are burned or taken, her crews slain or surrendered. The captains, knights, notable warriors, and others of high birth we shall ransom or make other use of, the rest I mean to hang …

“Aye.” Alysane stared at Asha for a moment. “I have a son. He’s only two. My daughter’s nine.”

“You started young.”

“Too young. But better that than wait too late.” A stab at me, Asha thought, but let it be. “You are wed.”

“No. My children were fathered by a bear.” Alysane smiled. Her teeth were crooked, but there was something ingratiating about that smile. “Mormont women are skinchangers. We turn into bears and find mates in the woods. Everyone knows.” Asha smiled back.

“Mormont women are all fighters too.” The other woman’s smile faded. “What we are is what you made us. On Bear Island every child learns to fear krakens rising from the sea.” The Old Way. - ADwD

Lyanna Stark, daughter of the North, standing up for her father's men, participating in tourneys and wielding a sword being compared all the time to Arya Stark

Frey Pies.

Lot of battle and violence that is going to happen in TWoW as Stark supporting Northern factions goes to war with the Boltons. No one is going to be asking the Boltons nicely to give way. War and violence is necessary and is happening. Lots of people are going to die. Lots have already died. Brutal sacrifices are necessary. From the TWoW sample chapter things are not going too well for house Umber.

That's not even counting the brutal Old Kings of Winter - Theon 'Hungry Wolf' Stark, Brandon 'Ice Eyes' Stark

In the aftermath of his victory King Theon raised his own fleet and crossed the narrow sea to the shores of Andalos, with Argos's corpse lashed to the prow of his flagship. There he took a bloody vengeance, burning scores of villages, capturing three tower houses and a fortified sept putting thousands to the sword in the process. The heads of the slain the Hungry Wolf claimed as prizes, carrying them back to Westeros and planting them on spikes along his own coasts as a warning to other would be conquerors.

"When the Warg King's last redoubt fell, his sons were put to the sword, along with his beasts and greenseers, whilst his daughters were taken as prizes by their conquerors."

A World of Ice and Fire, The North, The Kings of Winter

The Boltons were scared of the Old Kings of Winter, Bran's visions shows human sacrifices as part of a pact with the Old Gods/Children of the forest, Brandon Ice Eyes hung the entrails of slavers from heart trees and Stark vassals feared these kings.

And we get closer and closer to the brutal Long Night, described as such by Old Nan:

“Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear? Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods” - Bran, AGoT

It's why 'Winter is coming' is the house motto for house Stark. It's what everything is heading towards. Brutal cold and harsh sacrifices and violence - lots of violence.

To then decry this violence and the hard core fantasy aspects of these books to espouse some kind of ridiculous notion that polite charm and songs and decorum is what is going to win the day and all the characters who engage in violence = bad, especially female characters who kill or wield hard power = bad, shows such a fundamental lack of understanding of ASoIaF as a book series.

And again, it's funny that it's the same folks who believe in Stark/Northern exceptionalism and keep shilling for Northern independence who keep decrying violence despite the feudalistic/medieval violence inherent in the North and talking about asoiaf as some kind of pacifist manifesto where one of the most pro-status quo character in the series is going to bring about hope and change and peace by maintaining decorum, talking politely and being charming. Because after everything, everything we have read about the North, that's what's going to work and that's what GRRM is apparently heading towards ....

[aerltarg]

Jon Snow Month 2022

Day 9: Ghost

Ghost ran with them for a time and then vanished among the trees. Without the direwolf, Jon felt almost naked. (Jon VII, AGOT)

“Ghost,” he called. “Here. To me.” He always slept better with the great white wolf beside him; there was comfort in the smell of him, and welcome warmth in that shaggy pale fur. (Jon VII, ACOK)

[...] Ghost sat on his haunches watching, silent as ever. Will he howl for me when I'm dead, as Bran's wolf howled when he fell? Jon wondered. Will Shaggydog howl, far off in Winterfell, and Grey Wind and Nymeria, wherever they might be? (Jon VIII, ACOK)

Jon wondered where Ghost was now. Had he gone to Castle Black, or was he was running with some wolfpack in the woods? He had no sense of the direwolf, not even in his dreams. It made him feel as if part of himself had been cut off. Even with Ygritte sleeping beside him, he felt alone. He did not want to die alone. (Jon V, ASOS)

[...] A hunger... he could feel it. It was food he needed, prey, a red deer that stank of fear or a great elk proud and defiant. He needed to kill and fill his belly with fresh meat and hot dark blood. His mouth began to water with the thought.

It was a long moment before he understood what was happening. When he did, he bolted to his feet. “Ghost?” He turned toward the wood, and there he came, padding silently out of the green dusk, the breath coming warm and white from his open jaws. “Ghost!” he shouted, and the direwolf broke into a run. [...] When he reached Jon he leapt, and they wrestled amidst brown grass and long shadows as the stars came out above them. “Gods, wolf, where have you been?” Jon said when Ghost stopped worrying at his forearm. “I thought you'd died on me, like Robb and Ygritte and all the rest. I've had no sense of you, not since I climbed the Wall, not even in dreams.” The direwolf had no answer, but he licked Jon's face with a tongue like a wet rasp, and his eyes caught the last light and shone like two great red suns.

Red eyes, Jon realized, but not like Melisandre's. He had a weirwood's eyes. Red eyes, red mouth, white fur. Blood and bone, like a heart tree. He belongs to the old gods, this one. And he alone of all the direwolves was white. Six pups they'd found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow. (Jon XII, ASOS)

The smells are stronger in my wolf dreams, he reflected, and food tastes richer too. Ghost is more alive than I am. (Jon II, ADWD)

He was walking beneath the shell of the Lord Commander's Tower, past the spot where Ygritte had died in his arms, when Ghost appeared beside him, his warm breath steaming in the cold. In the moonlight, his red eyes glowed like pools of fire. The taste of hot blood filled Jon's mouth, and he knew that Ghost had killed that night. No, he thought. I am a man, not a wolf. He rubbed his mouth with the back of a gloved hand and spat. (Jon III, ADWD)

When he finally put the quill down, the room was dim and chilly, and he could feel its walls closing in. Perched above the window, the Old Bear's raven peered down at him with shrewd black eyes. My last friend, Jon thought ruefully. And I had best outlive you, or you'll eat my face as well. Ghost did not count. Ghost was closer than a friend. Ghost was part of him. (Jon III, ADWD)

Jon smelled Tom Barleycorn before he saw him. Or was it Ghost who smelled him? Of late, Jon Snow sometimes felt as if he and the direwolf were one, even awake. The great white wolf appeared first, shaking off the snow. A few moments later Tom was there. (Jon VII, ADWD)

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger's hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold… (Jon XIII, ADWD)